Legacy of the Fallen
by helioslude
Summary: The animals of Zootopia have ruled the world for millions of years before they became advanced enough to come out of the savage age, so who came before them? When one of these beings are discovered, buried and long forgotten, will he change the world, or will he burn out? This is the Legacy of the Fallen.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Ancestral Accessories

David Anthony, Anteater archeologist, had just found the ultimate artifact for an animal obsessed with prehistoric species. Out in the deserts to the south west of Zootopia, he was combing the dig sites of everyone else in his field along this one strip of sand just off of the highway. As he walked through the heat, he contemplated just packing up and going home. As an Anteater, he may enjoy the heat of Sahara Square, but this was just ridiculous, extreme did not even begin to describe the heat lazily rolling off the sun at that moment. Just as he turned around, he saw a yellow light shining from one of the dunes.

When he approached, he expected another archeologist who had lost their way, not a speck glittering amber to poke out of the ground. Perplexed he started carefully digging through the soft sand. When he managed to get a little ways in, he saw the most peculiar creature trapped in the amber. It was furless except for its head, where it seemed to grow out like a brown lion's mane, the creature had lightly tan skin, but it was wearing a weird, black, second skin over the chest, similar to a wetsuit, but only for the upper body. It looked very lean, with a very small layer of fat on its body. Realizing what he found, David lept up in joy. Every night spent in a tent, every the hot day in the desert, every drop of sweat, every injury was all worth it for this moment. He very nearly collapsed from the excitement, or maybe it was dehydration, he couldn't tell.

He sprinted back to his truck and shifted it into gear. He drove at a breakneck speed so that the sands wouldn't shift and swallow the specimen entirely. David fully excavated the creature in little time. The creature was larger than he was, about the size of a tall wolf or a short bear, however, the amber it was encased in was round enough to be rolled onto his truck bed with the help of ramp, designed for this occasion. After he secured his artifact with tarp and ropes, he set out for Zootopia, daydreaming about prestige and massive amounts of wealth that would be in his near future. He never noticed the stone that flew up from the road, creating a faint crack in the amber.

Three days later...

It wasn't often that the Zootopia Museum of Natural History received a new piece, especially one as important as this. David Anthony was practically vibrating in anticipation. The museum had decided to celebrate this by throwing a party, but it was also celebrating the complete decryption of another piece of history, the ancient Black Tablets, a set of twenty carbon monoliths with strange symbols on them that have challenged historians for years. The function was twofold, the museum could reveal the rough translation of the Tablets, while also showing what the mysterious authors looked like when they were made, dating all the way back to the savage period. The museum choose to ask the ZPD if they would be willing to police the function. They also booked a local orchestra to provide entertainment for the guests. It was all very prim and proper, a tad bit too uptight for David's taste, but he didn't care. The Anteater was just happy to be there. After an hour of small talk for the guest to Zootopia's finest classical music, the time had come for the main events of the evening. As David stepped up to the podium he felt everyone's eyes on him.

"Good evening everybody, my name is David Anthony, and I have found an invaluable find to uncover the full history of our planet," he said, slowly getting more comfortable with speaking to such an audience of influential people. "During my travels, I have spent many years trying to learn who the creators of the Black Tablets were, learning about the species that was dominant during our savage period. It has all led up to today! While combing the sands of the Angel Desert, I stumbled upon something that I would like to show you all tonight," he walked over to the covered amber, ripping the cloth off to the sound of a gasping audience, "Behold! Those who came before, the creators of the Black Tablets, the Ancestrals!" He shouted while the audience raucously applauded. No one saw that the crack had only grown in the three day journey to the city. Mayor Lionheart took David's hand and posed for the cameras, with the newly dubbed "Ancestral" in the background.

Taking the podium, Mayor Lionheart calmed the crowd saying that they could examine it in further detail during the after party in the new exhibit where it would become a permanent fixture. It was taken off the stage by two polar bear stagehands carrying it through the back rooms to not be mobbed by the frenzy of prehistory enthusiasts.

"The next part of this evening is the decryption and translation of the Black Tablets," he began, silencing everyone, many of whom had forgotten the reason they had actually come here. "After years of work, we believe we have translated the strange symbols on the tablets to be understandable to us, and as it turns out, these Ancestrals really loved music, so much so that they built a monument in its name. The songs inscribed on these tablets will be performed by the Zootopia Chamber Orchestra, enjoy and good night!" They both walked off as the orchestra took over, preparing for their show.

As the two bears transported the fossilized Ancestral, a small rabbit girl followed them, she didn't give a damn about some old tablets, when this was much more interesting. She trailed behind them, sticking to corners, when she leaned around the turn she saw the Ancestral just sitting there, with no polar bears in sight,

'Probably outside smoking' she thought. She crept forward towards the fossilized creature until she stood in front of the looming amber. She couldn't help herself and reached a paw forward to touch the cold gem.

Before it fell to the side.

Onto a steel girder from an old industrial exhibit.

It was like watching the slowest car crash she had ever seen, the amber itself shattered with a massive crash, letting the creature within to flop onto the floor. She stood there, trying to keep her panic level from rising any further than it had already. She fumbled around in her pockets for her taser. With trembling paws she held it toward the immobile ancestral. The sound of applause echoing in the halls made her jump, and instinctually jab the active taser in its torso.

The first thing that Matthew Romano felt was a stinging pain shooting through his entire body. His arms shot out, one hand hit metal, but he felt the other smack into something small and furry with a yelp, and the pain halted. He cracked his eyes open and immediately shut them, blinded by the bright LEDs overhead. Once his vision adjusted, he tried again, jumping up to try and get his bearings. The world flooded with sounds: barks, growls, roars, and music, horrible, horrible music. He could barely recognize the song they were attempting to play, ACDC's "Back in Black." He staggered towards the sounds of civilization, back in the direction of the auditorium. He didn't turn to see the crying rabbit lying on the concrete in a daze.

Eventually Matthew found his way back to the main stage, miraculously without encountering a single animal. As he looked around the backstage area, he noticed an electric guitar, hooked up to what looked like a small cube amp, 'as long as it stops this awful train wreck,' he thought. Without a moment to lose, he stepped out, expecting an orchestra of middle schoolers practicing for the first time, not a bunch of literal animals playing for an audience full of other animals.

"Well… that's new…" he muttered as the whole room stared at him in sheer amazement. The band stopped playing as he set his newly acquired instrument and amp down and strolled over to the bear at the drum set, he grabbed the spare set of drumsticks and started to pound out the proper beat for the song. He made a motion to repeat it, the bear just nodded dumbly. The next item on his list was a microphone for the vocals, he grabbed the nearest choral mic and just dragged it over to his guitar and amp. After a test snap to check if the mic was warm.

"This is how you play "Back in Black," was all he said before pointing at the drummer who began to crank out the percussion, while he switched his guitar on and turned the volume up to, what he assumed to be, ten. The whole room was waiting to see what exactly he would do. As he got further and further in the song, everyone started to come out of their shock, and by the time he was at the last chorus, the hall was starting to panic and shout for ZPD, not that Matthew could understand any of it. He did pick up on the sounds of a bunch of unsettled (to say the least) animals. His gut was saying that it was time to run, and it was seldom wrong. To close out the song he smashed his guitar and sprinted back the way he had come from. 'Luck seems to be on my side today…' he thought as he spied a fire exit. Slamming both hands on the door, he sprinted out into the night, looking for a place to hide until the heat dies down.

Officers Nicolas "Slick Nick" P. Wilde and Judy Hopps were just about dying from boredom. They were assigned this job after Nick decided it would be a good idea to barge in on Chief Bogo.

Without knocking.

While he was watching a Gazelle video.

Needless to say they weren't exactly in his good graces at the moment. So until the Chief decides their transgression has been paid, they would always be assigned to duties like this. They were going to start another round of rock, paper, scissors, when they heard the screams and shouts from inside the auditorium. Jumping into action they burst in and saw a weird creature on stage smashing a guitar as it sprinted away into one of the wings.

"What the hell was that!?" Nick exclaimed.

"Whatever it is, it's caused all of these people to panic, so let's get after it," Judy replied over the roar of the crowd. They both pulled out their tranquilizer guns and got moving, while calling for back up. As they turned the corner to get back stage, they heard a door slam open down the corridor. When they reach the open fire exit, they catch a glimpse of it sprinting down a back alley.

"Oh shit!" the usually calm Nick muttered to his partner.

"What is it?"

"That's the path to Porcelain Bull territory, their boss has a major obsession with everything ancient, we need to get him darted fast, or we'll lose him for good."

The dynamic duo seemed to have similar luck to the creature they were chasing, as the creature took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end.

"ZPD! Freeze!" they both yelled.

To Matthew, he just heard a yip and a squeak from behind him. He turned to see a rabbit and a fox, pointing what look like tiny guns at him.

"Now that's just adorable," he muttered, "tiny guns for tiny paws." He saw them tense, and he ducked out of the way of two darts that embedded themselves into the wall behind him. "Tiny, deadly, dart guns. Right." He jumped back up and grabbed one of the trashcan lids and a scrap wood plank from the junk left in the alley. The two officers were reloading their dart guns on the other side of the alley. 'If at all possible, i would rather not need to be hunted for assaulting a police officer today, so plan B, disorient them, make them fearful, just get them to back down,' he thought. So he choose to take a tactic from the vikings of yore. He smacked his shield and shouted at them, so loud that his own ears were starting to hurt.

To no effect.

Realizing his mistake, he put up his guard just in time to feel two darts smack into the junk shield.

'Plan A it is then, just bulrush until I'm in melee range, they can't hit that hard, right?' His shield charge was successful at getting in range, that's where everything went wrong. He didn't realize that this was his first mistake of taking on the only bunny cop in the ZPD, who has taken down an adult rhino with one kick, at close range. His next mistake was forgetting about the resourcefulness of Nick Wilde, and finally, underestimating them when they are together. When he got close, he saw the bunny jump to kick him, naturally he blocked it. He wasn't expecting the kick to throw the shield back down the alley, or the sudden numbness in his arm. Time slowed down for him, when he noticed the fox had a clear, point blank shot at his chest.

'Welp… I'm boned.' he thought as the tranquilizer dart hit him dead center. 'This is all your fault Helios, I will find you, and rip... you a new... one,' he thought as his world was painted black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Lost in Translation

 **AN: Wow… I wasn't expecting so much love for this story so quickly. To all of you who are following, reviewing, favoriting, or just reading along, I thank you!**

"What the hell is it? I've never heard of anything like it," Nick told his partner.

"Really? Mr. "I know everybody in Zootopia" doesn't know anything about this?"

"Hey, when I say that, I mean I know everyone in the city, I don't know every _thing_ here. It looks kind of like a muscular wolf, except without the snout, or fur," Nick shot back. The two officers were sitting down next to each other, leaned against the brick, while waiting for their larger back up to take the creature back to the ZPD.

"You two alright?" came the call from tiger Officer Delgado, along with rhino Officer McHorn, as they cuffed the unconscious Ancestral and picked it up.

"Yeah, we're just peachy. We'll walk to our cruiser and head back with you," Judy replied while they wound their way back to the museum. Upon actually reaching the madhouse that the Ancestral left behind, they saw a lot more police cars, and the imposing figure of Chief Bogo, trying to control the media frenzy.

"Why is it that whenever there is a big case that gives me migraines from the paperwork alone, it always involves you two?" Bogo groaned out after dismissing the reporters that were swarming like locusts.  
"Sir, we have arrested and tranquilized the creature, we will take him back to the ZPD and try to communicate with it when it wakes up. If that's alright with you sir," Judy saluted her boss, and hoped the reprimand wasn't too harsh, they had left the panicked guests alone while they gave chase after all.

"Good work Hopps, you too Wilde, consider yourselves free from guard duty, your new assignment is learning everything you can about our resident living fossil, effective immediately."

"Yes Sir! Come on Nick, we have work to do." They shot off to get back to the ZPD and start work on their newest case.

When Matthew returned to the waking world, he found himself handcuffed to a table on a steel chair. The room was tiled white, with a concrete grey door leading to what he assumed was a police station of some variety.

'Great,' he thought, summoning as much sarcasm as he could muster, 'I have no idea where I am or what's happening, and now I'm trapped here for the moment.' As the last of the tranquilizer induced fog cleared from his mind, the door swung open to reveal the grey rabbit and the red fox that put him here in the first place. They were both dressed in the blue uniforms synonymous with law enforcement. The rabbit held two cups of what smelled like coffee, while the fox just sipped his own. They hopped up onto the chair on the opposite side of the table, clearly meant for larger animals, and then up onto the table itself, all without spilling a drop of their beverages. The rabbit then handed the (to him) shot glass sized cup of coffee to him, he assumed as an olive branch. As he bent down to sip the rejuvenating liquid he mentally chuckled.

'The "good cop, bad cop" thing isn't going to work that well with the language barrier currently in place.' Watery was an optimistic description of the coffee as it rolled down his throat, so he just set the cup down and lent back into his chair. The rabbit started to chirp, in whatever animal language they had, but the gestures were able to convey the gist of a basic introduction.

"Matthew Romano," he said while pointing at himself, hoping that it at least sounded like a language to them. They shared a look, and the fox barked something at him. From the tone it sounded vaguely like a question.

'This is going to be impossible without a translator, but Helios is unlikely to still be active. Although… it's worth a shot,' he concluded. He made eye-contact with the rabbit and tried to gesture, for what he hoped was still, to ask to call someone. Sticking his thumb and pinky out and putting it up to his head. The rabbit seemed to understand and directed the fox to comply, he made a low whine, and was shot a glare. He walked out with his tails between his legs, like an admonished child.

'Or maybe a husband…' he thought, just noticing the matching rings they wore on their paws. He knocked on the table to get the rabbit's attention, when they turned he pointed at the ring and gave a small round of applause. He was fairly sure that the fox was male while the rabbit was female from their general profiles, now that they are in a well-lit room, not a poorly lit back alley. He was rewarded when the inside of her ears started to blush. 'Newlyweds if she is blushing that hard about it.'

The fox came back in with an office phone and handed it to him, taking a look at the buttons, the symbols made no sense to him, "It's like I'm an alien that landed in China," he muttered to himself. He glanced at the two officers and started to count up with one hand while gesturing to the pad with the other, the rabbit nodded. Thankful for his luck, he dialed the one number that he knew that might connect. He listened to the ringing with baited breath, eventually being greeted by a sleepy bark.

"Damn it. It was worth a shot," he said into the phone as he prepared to hang up.

"WAIT! Matthew, is that you!?" came the startled, silky voice that he recognized all too well.

"Helios, you have no idea what it feels like to talk to you right now…" he trailed off.

"I know, I know. Sock me when you see me, for now… WHY THE HELL ARE YOU AT THE ZPD!?" Matthew leaned away from the phone as his friend yelled.

"You see… it started at the museum…"

Judy and Nick were astonished at the sheer volume coming from the other side of the phone line. How someone could do that and not break the speaker, they had no clue. Judy reached for her husband's hand.

"Let's let it sort this out with whomever it's talking to-"Nick suggested, pulling Judy with him.

"Him, he's a male" Judy cut him off as they closed the door behind them.

"You know this… how?"

"Call it intuition, but he also has a very masculine sounding voice, I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it."

"I didn't want to assume, I've been bitten enough times not to tempt fate." Nick finished with a peck to the top of her head, right between her ears.

"Not even going to ask… How long do you think we'll have to play charades with him?"

"Until we can teach him to understand us, or at least understand our written language. Maybe we could get one of the professors from the museum to act as a translator…"

They continued to brainstorm ideas while they strolled back up to the lobby to get more coffee. They had just refilled their cups from the vending machine, when the doors slid open with a ding to admit an impeccably dressed great wolf. Wealth seemed to stream off this mammal like the steam rising from their coffee. His freshly pressed grey suit, white shirt, and red tie, looked excellent on him, most likely tailor made. He scanned the lobby until his eyes laid upon the newlyweds. Taking long determined strides in their direction, they both knew who he was in an instant. Billionaire, celebrity, CEO of the largest tech company in Zootopia, Marcus Aurelius.

"Excuse me," he began in his deeply mellifluous voice, "but you two wouldn't happen to be the ones who brought in that… what did he call it? Ancient? Ancestor?"

"Ancestral?" Nick asked, looking at the wolf warily, it wasn't every day that people like him waltz into the ZPD.

"That's it! Yes, the Ancestral! Could you take me to him?" The billionaire pleaded.

"Why? Where do you come into all this mess? You weren't at the museum when he was first seen, and you sure as hell don't know him or are able to even understand him. So what's your motive?" Nick growled out, glaring as fiercely as possible at the mammal who had enough clout to make or break just about anyone in the city.

"I assure you, my intentions are completely benevolent, you can even stay in the room if you want, and I feel like we may all learn something."

"We can't understand what he is saying, nor can he us from what I can tell outside of simple gestures. What would you offer the investigation?" Judy cut in, shooting her partner a warning look. Marcus wasn't a mammal to piss off, even with Nick's luck, they were still walking on thin ice.

"I'll have you know, I'm one of the main contributors to the Black Tablet project, and I happen to have the cypher that was created from the research. It will get you much further than fumbling around in the dark," he elaborated casually, "So, let's try this again. Take me to the Ancestral." His voice was as hard as steel, but calm as a lake. There was no room for interpretation. It was an order.

Judy and Nick shared a glance, seemingly having a conversation through their expressions.

"Okay, we'll take you to him. This way." Judy led the way towards the interrogation rooms, while Nick followed behind Marcus. When they got to the interrogation room where the Ancestral was staying for the moment, Judy jumped up onto the table while Nick closed the door behind him. Marcus sat down on the opposing chair from the Ancestral, setting one arm down on his knee while his other hand pulled out a piece of paper, a pen, and a code sheet. As soon as he set these items on the table, he felt a pair of paw-cuffs attach him to the table.

"Marcus Aurelius, you are under arrest for interfering in a police investigation and threatening a police officer, you have the right to an attorney, a speedy and fair trail, and the right to remain silent. Or we could forget about this whole thing, if you cooperate," Judy proclaimed with a smirk. Marcus sighed, and muttered something under his breath that caused the Ancestral across from him to burst into laughter.

"Do we need to give you time to think about it? You have until… eight in the morning before any charge goes through. Call when you're ready!" Nick declared tapping his watch as they both left the room.

"You really should have expected that one," Matthew chuckled watching his old friend try to get out of the cuffs.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, the person who comes to save your dumb ass is now also arrested with you."

"But you should easily have enough power in that body to break the chain, or some way to pick the lock. Right?" Matthew raised an eyebrow at the loud laugh from Helios.

"These are designed to hold an elephant at bay, I should know, made them myself, nearly unbreakable, and almost never unlocked without a key."

"What do you mean "almost never?" We aren't exactly well equipped at the moment"

"I say almost because we'll be the first," Helios pulled out a key with an electronic apparatus on it, "this is a master key that work with every pair of these cuffs, only given to police chiefs, and destroyable through a command, which is controlled by me," he explained while unlocking their cuffs.

Now came the hard part, getting out of a police station as suspects…


End file.
